~ Thinking outside the box about Cambodia

Cambodia’s declining democracy

Well, Well, Well! The final score for world democracy in 2015 is out and Cambodia is sadly moving backward.

“The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index 2015 – Democracy in an age of anxiety” shows that Cambodia slid downward to the bottom of “Hybrid regime” group of countries whereas the overall score for Asia has made modest improvement. The EIU wrote: “Some Asian countries that had made progress in 2014 registered a significant deterioration in 2015. In Cambodia a 2014 deal between the ruling Cambodian People’s party (CPP) and the opposition broke down when the government began a crackdown on the opposition in October 2015, prompting a sharp fall in the country’s score and ranking. Cambodia dropped ten places in our ranking, from 103 to 113, with its score leaving it on the cusp of the “authoritarian regime” category.”

You would certainly be not surprised by the EIU’s assessment and evaluation as nothing new – except the number – has ever added to what you already know, feel and exasperate about, nor would you be astonished by the denial or the rejection of the report by the ruling party whose realpolitik is teflon-coated self-obliging; and as Publius Sirius, once, said: “He confesses his crime who flees the tribunal.”

The survival of a democracy does not depend on the autocracy that suppresses it, it depends on the strength and the alertness, vigilance, watchfulness, foresight and shrewdness of the people who are masters of themselves. People make democracy.

Share this:

Like this:

Related

Post navigation

1 thought on “Cambodia’s declining democracy”

Khmer leaders need to learn to stop the infighting and unite to build a better nation for the people. Leaders put their own personal interests ahead of the people when they do not make an effort to compromise for the sake of the nation. This is all too typical of the Cambodian politics and history.